Defending National Champion Ferris State Tabbed To Repeat As Nation's Preseason #1 Team By Lindy's Sports
Big Rapids, Mich. - The first preseason national poll of the 2022 campaign has been announced and the defending NCAA Division II National Champion Ferris State University Bulldogs have been picked to repeat by being tabbed as the nation's #1 team by Lindy's Sports.
The annual college football national preview magazine picked FSU first overall entering this fall's slate as the publication recently hit the newsstands across the country.
Lindy's Sports, which is billed as the nation's leading football authority, highlighted the top 25 teams in the country based on expert opinions and also featured a preseason All-America team. The top five teams nationally in the magazine's preseason listing included the defending national champion Bulldogs (#1) followed by reigning national runner-up Valdosta State (#2) in addition to Colorado Mines (#3), Grand Valley State (#4) and Northwest Missouri State (#5) in the top five overall with Shepherd listed sixth. A year ago, the Bulldogs topped four of the other five teams found in the preseason top six during one of the most dominating playoff runs in Division II history.
Ferris State was picked the highest of the three teams from Super Region Three found in the top 10 with fellow region members GVSU and Northwest Missouri State also in the listing. The Bulldogs were one of two Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) teams featured among the top 25 teams overall in addition to the Lakers.
Lindy's Sports also tabbed a pair of Bulldogs as Preseason All-Americans, including junior defensive end Caleb Murphy (Dowagiac) as a first-team honoree and senior offensive guard Adam Sieler (Pinckney) as a second-team choice.
Additionally, the magazine also chose its five biggest games of the year with the Bulldogs slated to play in two of them. The two outings include FSU's first road matchup of the year on Sept 10 at Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.), which reached the playoffs a year ago and is Lindy's Sports preseason #16 team, along with the Anchor-Bone Classic between FSU and GVSU, slated for Oct. 15 in Big Rapids.
Along with capturing the D2 National Championship with a perfect 14-0 record last fall, the Bulldogs also claimed a third-straight GLIAC Championship and stretched their regular-season winning streak to 38 consecutive games and counting. FSU has reached the NCAA Division II National Semifinals four times in the past five seasons of action and ranks as the country's winningest program over the past seven full seasons in D2 Football.
The Bulldogs have won each of the last three GLIAC Championships in unbeaten fashion and reached the national quarterfinals five consecutive years, which is the longest streak in the country. Over the past three seasons of on-field action, the Bulldogs have compiled a 41-2 mark.
Ferris State, which returns a strong nucleus from last fall's national championship team, is slated to open the 2022 season at home against returning NCAA D2 Playoff qualifier Central Washington on Thursday, Sept. 1, at Top Taggart Field.
Below are the Lindy's Sports D2 Preseason Top 25 National Rankings:
1. Ferris State
2. Valdosta State
3. Colorado Mines
4. Grand Valley State
5. Northwest Missouri State
6. Shepherd (W.Va.)
7. Bowie State
8. Angelo State
9. Notre Dame (Ohio)
10. West Florida
11. Harding
12. Nebraska-Kearney
13. West Georgia
14. Western Colorado
15. Ouachita Baptist
16. Lenoir-Rhyne
17. California (Pa.)
18. New Haven
19. Albany State
20. Augustana (S.D.)
21. Indiana (Pa.)
22. Washburn
23. Bemidji State
24. Newberry
25. Minnesota-Duluth